Beverage preparation machines are well known in the food science and consumer goods area. Such machines allow a consumer to prepare at home a given type of beverage, for instance a coffee-based beverage, e.g. an espresso or a cup of brew-like coffee.
Today, most beverage preparation machines for in-home beverage preparation comprise a system made of a machine which can accommodate portioned ingredients for the preparation of the beverage. Such portions can be soft pods or pads, or sachets, but increasingly systems use semi-rigid or rigid portions such as rigid pods or capsules. Below, it will be considered that the beverage machine of the invention is a beverage preparation machine working with a rigid or semi-rigid capsule.
The machine comprises a receptacle or cavity for accommodating said capsule and a fluid injection system for injecting a fluid, preferably water, under pressure into the capsule. Water injected under pressure into the capsule, for the preparation of a coffee beverage according to the present invention, is preferably hot, that is to say at a temperature above 70° C. However, in some particular instances, it might also be at ambient temperature, or even chilled. The pressure inside the capsule chamber during extraction and/or dissolution of the capsule contents is typically about 1 to about 8 bar for dissolution products and about 2 to about 12 bar for extraction of roast and ground coffee. Such a preparation process differs a lot from the so-called “brewing” process of beverage preparation—particularly for tea and coffee, in that brewing involves a long time of infusion of the ingredient by a fluid (e.g. hot water), whereas the beverage preparation process allows a consumer to prepare a beverage, for instance coffee, within a few seconds.
The principle of extracting and/or dissolving the contents of a closed capsule under pressure is known, and consists typically of inserting the capsule in a receptacle or cavity of a machine, injecting a quantity of pressurized water into the capsule, generally after piercing a face of the capsule with a piercing injection element such as a fluid injection needle mounted on the machine, so as to create a pressurized environment inside the capsule either to extract the substance or dissolve it, and then release the extracted substance or the dissolved substance through the capsule. Capsules allowing the application of this principle have already been described for example in applicant's European patents EP 1472156 B1, and EP 1784344 B1.
Machines allowing the application of this principle have already been described for example in patents CH 605 293 and EP 242 556. According to these documents, the machine comprises a receptacle or cavity for the capsule and a perforation and injection element made in the form of a hollow needle comprising in its distal region one or more liquid injection orifices. The needle has a dual function in that it opens the top portion of the capsule on the one hand, and in that it forms the water inlet channel into the capsule on the other hand.
The machine further comprises a fluid tank—in most cases this fluid is water—for storing the fluid that is used to dissolve and/or infuse and/or extract under pressure the ingredient(s) contained in the capsule. The machine comprises a heating element such as a boiler or a heat exchanger, which is able to warm up the water used therein to working temperatures (classically temperatures up to 80-90° C.). Finally, the machine comprises a pump element for passing the water from the tank to the capsule, optionally though the heating element. The way the water passes within the machine is e.g. selected via a selecting valve means, such as for instance a peristaltic valve of the type described in applicant's European patent application EP 2162653 A1.
When the beverage to be prepared is coffee, one convenient way to prepare the coffee is to provide the consumer with a capsule containing roast and ground coffee powder, which is to be extracted with hot water injected therein.
In many instances, the machine comprises a capsule holder for holding a capsule, which is intended to be inserted in and removed from a corresponding cavity or receptacle of the machine. When a capsule holder is loaded with a capsule and inserted within the machine in a functional manner, the water injection means of the machine can fluidly connect to the capsule to inject water therein for food or beverage preparation, as described above. A capsule holder was described for example in applicant's European patent EP 1967100 B1.
In many instances, the machine comprises mobile mechanical parts, such as actuating means (e.g. a control lever or button) which have to be actuated by the user during preparation of a beverage or food product. For example, some machines make it possible to prepare hot or cold beverage and therefore require the use of a two or three-way valve which makes possible the selection of the fluid line from a plurality of positions, typically “hot”, “cold” and “closed”.
The selection of the position of the fluidic valve, and thus of the fluid line is performed either manually by the user thanks to a selection lever, for example a rocking lever which may be positioned for example in three positions corresponding to said three typical positions of the fluid network, or automatically by pressing a button which may be on a control panel of the machine and which activates a motor to switch the valve automatically between positions of the fluid network. Such a system is described for instance in Applicant's European patent EP 2162653 B1.
Although these systems work well and are easy to use, they may be improved. Indeed, manual systems require a manual intervention of the user for the fluid network position selection (eg. “hot” or “cold” fluid delivery position), and also for closing the valve when the desired amount of product has been delivered. This requires the user to stay near the machine during the preparation of the product which takes a few seconds, and to stay vigilant in order to close the valve and thus stop the machine at the right time. Automatic systems to improve consumer experience and solve the drawbacks of the manual machines, have been developed which use a motorized valve, wherein the valve is actuated by an electric motor. These automatic systems work well and allow the user to walk away from the machine once the preparation of the beverage has started, i.e. once the opening of the valve has been commanded. Indeed the valve is automatically closed when a selected or predefined beverage volume has been delivered. However, motors used in such automated machines are rather noisy, and they do not allow a quick and instantaneous displacement of the valve between its different positions which sometimes results in a lack of precision of the volume dispensed and also sometimes some—limited—leakage issues.
The same drawbacks may more or less exist for every mobile part (which is either manually or automatically moved) of a food or beverage preparation machine, and in particular a home appliance. Said mobile parts may include valves, actuating means such as levers, closing and clamping means for a capsule receptacle, and so on.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a home appliance for food or beverage preparation that solves or reduces at least one of the above mentioned drawbacks.